Project - Secure email

Hi Everyone,

I completed the secure email as indicated in my Inbox:

This is the link to an article about a Data Encryption feature in the Oracle 11.2 database:

http://www.dba-oracle.com/t_11g_new_transparent_tablespace.htm

      This article is from Burleson Consulting, who consult and support Oracle databases.

    Our textbook indicates Oracle databases make up 40% of the databases in this country.  Their ability to store a wide range of data makes Oracle the market leader and often a target of security issues.  Oracle version 11.2 allows users to store any table in encrypted form by designating a tablespace as encrypted using the Transparent Data Encryption(TDE) feature.   You can store multiple tables in a tablespace and multiple tablespaces make up an Oracle database.

    Oracle does this by using a master encryption key and an external encryption 'wallet'.   It can use either 3DES168, AES128, AES192, or AES256 encryption algorithms. This encryption will protect data like credit card numbers or social security numbers from hackers who may be able to copy a database datafile from the server. Anyone storing sensitive customer information in an Oracle database should be using this TDE feature. 

Go Gators !

Wayne

Microsoft Access Database Project

Hi everyone,

      The Access Project was challenging and I learned several things about Access.  

       First of all,  Access is a flexible, easy to learn database.  The common Design View interface for tables, queries, forms, and reports is a nice feature.  I found myself fighting through the various icons and menus until I started to find my way around.   I had started the project by creating the requested database,  then somehow I created the Members table in a different database,  along with the query, report , and form.  I could not find a way the rename a database in Access.  I really didn’t think this was possible anyway.  The solution was to just import the objects from the default database into the correctly named database.  Once I did that, all was well.  Overall,  I wished I had learned Access prior to learning Oracle.   It would have been easier that way to be introduced to SQL.   

       Secondly,  I found the SQL View useful to check and ensure the query was selecting all the columns(fields) and the ‘group by’s and the ‘order by’s were there.

        I would do several things to improve this database.  I would add a field to the Members table for ‘email address’.   Then create a new query called ‘Birthday’ and select  the current members whose birthdays were soon approaching and then you could either mail them a birthday card or email a birthday greeting.  You could also use the email address to send announcements or special offers to current members.  If the Members table grew really large,  queries using the LastName field may benefit by an index.  

Thank you,
Wayne

Project: Presentation blog

Hi all, 

This is the link to my video on You Tube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS_23oedKK0

   Early on, I committed to doing this presentation on PowerPoint because I had used it before and was familiar with it.  I ran into a problem with file that resulted and You Tube would not accept the PowerPoint format.  I then saved it as a WMV file and then was able to upload it with no problems.  I also saw that other students used other tools like Microsoft MovieMaker and I thought I would use that next time as it looked very easy to use.  I would now like to create a video regarding 'best practices' for my area of

expertise in supporting data warehousing for my company.    

   What I learned from the project was to try several of the tools and to be careful with file formats.  In addition,  using a storyboard helped alot because I was able to limit the scope of the project and organize the objects used and general concept of 'what goes where, when'.

     I tried to use the first picture to grab attention and to plainly state the fact of obesity being a tremendous problem.     I think I got the basic flow right ,  first stating the problem,  then impact , and then what people can do about it.   I was trying to clarify the causes that people can attribute to obesity by asking is it caused by 'video games ,

fast food,  reduced physical activity. 

     I tried to avoid clutter and expand in the comments area instead on on the slide and the same for readability.   Perhaps more time could have been given to read the slides before I started talking but I speak fairly slowly so I am not sure if anyone had a problem with this. 

     I have been personally close to the diabetes problem and may have spent too much time on it - but it is really one of the worse outcomes from childhood obesity and I felt it deserves attention.   

Go Gators!

Wayne 

Excel Project

Hi Everyone,


   I had fun going through this assignment in Excel.  Some of the items were familiar to me as I had used them before,  like formatting of cells,  renaming of worksheets, and copying of formulas down a column of cells.   I have also added columns and created formulas before.
 
   The issues that were new to me were the pivot tables,  and doing the screen capture. 
I had to review the videos again for the pivot tables and I also used the discussion on the course website to find solutions.  The problem with the pivot tables were were determining which columns you needed and where to put them in the pivot table.  I played with it for awhile moving things around and learned quite a bit.  I have worked with Sql before and have built queries for tables so it did not seem too foreign.
I can now see why pivot tables are very powerful for using Excel.  In addition, the course discussion reference for the snipping tool was greatly appreciated and I used to for the second pivot table.

   I like the way the exercise guided me through the steps and made me reference the videos, Excel Help,  and discussion on the course website.  That is how things are done in the real world,  where a user needs to exhaust all their resources before asking for help. 


Go Gators !
Wayne